“Latin Compounds”

Latin Substantives

     The stem of a Latin substantive may be used as the first part of a Stem Compound by becoming a combining form in the following ways:

  • It appears in a form that is identical to the base of the substantive, followed immediately by the Connecting Vowel i, when the second part of the Stem Compound begins with a consonant.

  • The Connecting Vowel i disappears in polysyllabic combining forms, but retained in monosyllabic combining forms, when the second part of the Stem Compound begins with a vowel, or when the base of the substantive ends in i.

     Examples of the forms of the combining forms of substantives appear below:

Declension, Stem Ending
Substantive Example
Word
Base
Stem
Combining Form Before Consonants
Combining Form Before Vowels
1, -ā puella
(girl)
puell- puellā- puelli- puell-
1, -ā (before i) grātia
(grace)
grāti- grātiā- grāti- grāti-
2, -o puer
(boy)
puer- puero- pueri- puer-
2, -o (before i) gladius
(sword)
gladi- gladio- gladi- gladi-
2, -o bellum
(war)
bell- bello- belli- bell-
2, -o (before i) officium
(business)
offici- officio- offici- offici-
3, -i ignis
(fire)
ign- igni- igni- ign-
3, consonant flōs
(flower)
flōr- flōr- flōri- flōr-
3, consonant or –i (mixed i-stem) urbs
(city)
urb- urb(i)- urbi- urb-
3, bou- (bov-) bōs
(ox)
bov- bou- (bov-) bovi- bov-
3, -ū sūs
(swine)
su- sū- sui- su-
3, -ī vīs
(force)
v- vī- vi- vi-
4, -u manus
(hand)
man- manu- mani- man-
5, -ē (before i) diēs
(day)
di- diē- di- di-
5, -ē (before a consonant) fidēs
(faith)
fid- fidē- fidi- fid-
5, -ē (before a consonant) rēs
(thing)
r- rē- ri- ri-

     Other substantive stems follow the same procedures.

  1. Two Groups of Compound Words in Latin
    1. Stem Compounds
      1. Three Types of Stem Compounds
      2. Two Main Parts of a Stem Compound
      3. Combining the Parts of a Stem Compound
        1. First Part of a Stem Compound
          1. Latin Substantives ← You Are Here
          2. Latin Adjectives
          3. Latin Verbs
          4. Special Combining Forms
        2. Second Part
          1. Nominative Form or Principal Part
          2. Inseparable Second Parts
            1. In Compounded Substantives
            2. In Compounded Adjectives
            3. In Compounded Verbs
          3. Special Terminations
    2. Syntactic Compounds
      1. Cases Forms
      2. Particles
      3. Inseparable Parts
  2. Vocabulary
  3. Bibliography

Latin Compounds | Pāginae Latīnitātis | DIĒS GAUDIĪ

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